Mortgage Payment Insurance an Effective Safety Net

Providing you read the terms and conditions of the cover before taking out a policy, mortgage payment insurance can be an effective safety net on which to rely. It would give you the income you insured against at the time of applying for the policy if you cannot earn your own income.

You are able to apply for cover based on your circumstances. For example you could protect against accident, sickness and unemployment together. You could also choose to protect against unemployment only or accident and sickness only if you wished. The premium you have to pay for the protection will be based on the level, how old you are and the amount you wish to protect. As cover is age based this means that first time home buyers can afford to pay for protection even with an over stretched budget.

To get the cheapest mortgage payment insurance you have to compare premiums online. Standalone payment protection specialists will offer the cheaper quotes and you also have to compare the terms and conditions of the policy. Some policies would begin to provide you with an income after only 30 days and backdate the benefit to the first day of unemployment or incapacity while others might state 90 days. A policy could provide you with an income each month for 12 months or it could run for 24 months.

When you consider the consequences of missing just a couple of repayments on the mortgage and not being able to catch up you can see why mortgage insurance is so valuable. If you just miss one payment this will be enough for the lender to call you into see them. If you can come to an agreement for repaying the arrears and continuing with the mortgage then all could be well, however you would have to be able to show that you could do this and if you had not got an income that would be impossible. Of course you probably will not know how long it will take for you to recover and get back to work or to find another job. If you cannot come to an agreement and you continue to get into arrears then the lender will have no choice but to start proceedings to take your home.

Many homeowners are under the impression that they would be able to claim benefit from the State. While you might be able to get help with your mortgage from the State it would only go towards the interest part of the mortgage. You would have to be eligible to claim and this means among other things that you have to be claiming income support and you not have a partner living with you who is in full time work.

Of course you would have to ensure that mortgage payment insurance would be suitable. While it is an excellent product to have in your corner it is not suitable for the circumstances of all individuals. You would need to check the terms and conditions but all ethical providers of payment protection products would provide you with this information on their website.

Simon Burgess is Managing Director of the award-winning British Insurance, a specialist provider of mortgage payment insurance.